Turning Ploughshares into Swords: Man Builds AK-47 from Shovel

There’s an old saying about turning swords into ploughshares. It’s from the book of Isaiah in the bible actually, talking about a time when weapons will no longer be needed and the tools of war will be turned into tools of peace. It’s a very hopeful outlook on the future, one that pacifists tend to take to heart. Apparently one man on the Northeast Shooters’ forum didn’t get the message, though, and did the reverse, turning a shovel into a functioning AK-47. And he’s posted pictures of the process. It’s simultaneously the most horrendously awful troll of a weapon and the most beautiful thing I’ve seen all month. Check out all his pictures over at the forum thread.

Why? He’s got a for-real barrel blank. The receiver, as he made it, was far thicker than an actual production AK receiver. I see a regular AK-47 bolt on the bench, along with a production gas system. What’s going to give way?

Seriously, people need to quit thinking that guns are terribly complicated to make. They’re not.

Nice guns are difficult to make. Accurate guns can be difficult to make.

But a functional weapon that can shove bullets down the bore to 100 yards?

There’s nothing complicated about casting aluminum for AR receivers. You can jump-start yourself by making a green sand mold of an existing AR receiver for casting.

Aluminum cans are almost pure aluminum. You could add alloying elements to get Zamak if you wanted better casting characteristics. The only thing on the receivers taking any real strain is the buffer tube mounting point.

But with cast AR-15 receiver blanks running about $30 a pop, the casting exercise isn’t what is all that challenging.

Not to worry. No one needs to be concerned about having to submit their defense arms to be melted into flutes until the there have been confirmed reports of lions laying down with lambs. If lions ever do start laying down with lambs I’m going to seriously start to do some re-thinking about life and my diet.

But if we regulate and outlaw guns nobody but the approved Gubbmint people will have them. Or not. Look up how easy it is to build a Sten gun. That’s a full auto sub gun that can be built in a garage with some basic tools.

Yea, the Sten is very basic. It’s so basic that I’d say that once someone builds one, they should scrap it and then use the experience to build a better gun. The Sten is a dangerous piece of crap if you drop it just right… it was not well regarded by the men who had to carry them.

Valid points. I have read about the Sten since I was a child. But I’ve actually fired a grease gun. The rate of fire was so slow that it was very controllable and quite accurate within it’s useful range.

There are two kinds of men in this world: Those with guns, and those who dig. You, uh, wait, there are three kinds of men in this world. Those with guns, those who make guns out of shovels, and those who dig. Um, where was I going with this?